The girls basketball season came to a disappointing end at the hands of the Romeo Bulldogs during the opening round of district play on Monday, Feb. 28.
Oxford lost 57-24, putting an end to a season which saw a young team go through many struggles this season, finishing with just three wins in 21 games.
‘I am proud of our girls for hanging in there in a very difficult season,? varsity head coach Al Poynter said. ‘We had injuries and distractions, we played the toughest schedule of any Oxford girls? basketball team and we played with what was maybe the youngest team in the entire (Oakland Activities Association) OAA.?
Romeo wanted to make sure the Wildcats couldn’t pull the upset and jumped out to a 20-4 lead after the opening quarter. The Bulldogs stretched the lead to 34-13 by halftime.
Sophomore Miranda Murphy led the Wildcats with seven points and sophomore Emma Kimmel had six points.
The Wildcats looked to score a win during their last week of Oakland Activities Association play.
In their regular season finale against West Bloomfield, the Wildcats lost 50-31 on Friday, Feb. 25.
Sophomore Shelby Davis led the Wildcats with seven points and seven rebounds. Oxford managed to fall behind 11-2 after the first quarter and trailed 27-11 at halftime.
According to Poynter, the loss boiled down to one thing ? missed lay-ups.
‘We came out tonight with better energy than we did last night against Southfield,? he said. ‘We got a lot of great looks inside but didn’t knock them down.?
The Wildcats took their best shot at capturing their fourth win of the season when they battled Southfield on Thursday, Feb. 24. Oxford lost a hard-fought game 34-30.
Despite early foul trouble, the Wildcats only found themselves trailing by two points at halftime, 12-10. Then they caught fire and outscored Southfield 14-8 in the third quarter, taking a 24-20 lead into the final eight minutes of the game.
After that it was all Southfield, who flipped the script and held the Wildcats to six points.
‘We battled back to take the lead in the second half, but then stopped doing the things that we did to get the lead in the first place,? Poynter said.
Junior Sam Myers led the Wildcats with nine points, Murphy had five points and five rebounds and Davis led Oxford with eight rebounds.
On Tuesday, Avondale blew the game open in the second quarter and put the game just out of reach for Oxford.
Even though they fell behind, Poynter was proud of the way his girls responded after halftime, outscoring Avondale 25-11 in the second half, including 15-1 in the fourth quarter.
Murphy led the Wildcats with 10 points and seven rebounds, and Davis added 10 points and five rebounds for Oxford. In their inaugural season in the OAA, the Wildcats finished with a 3-11 record.